


One, Two, Ready, Go!

by ballpoint



Category: Marvel 616, Young Avengers
Genre: Community: fic_promptly, F/M, Inside
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-09-12
Updated: 2010-09-12
Packaged: 2017-10-11 16:34:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/114417
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ballpoint/pseuds/ballpoint
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Marvel, Kate/Eli, trying to persuade Eli to come out and play</p>
            </blockquote>





	One, Two, Ready, Go!

**Author's Note:**

  * For [valtyr](https://archiveofourown.org/users/valtyr/gifts).



> Disclaimer: Characters and situations are the property of Stan Lee and Marvel Comics. No profit is being made off this fan-written work.

The day burst through the windows like a song.

Beams of sunlight scampered through the window, danced with the dust motes - Tommy forgot to dust,again- and landed splashing its light all over Eli, hunched over the desk in the YA's study. When Kate got her plan in motion for reforming Young Avengers all those months ago, she decided she wanted the rooms designed her own way - and had a fistful of credit cards to do so. Not the faux old fashioned chintz of a Laura Ashley mood, and the Armani minimalism of the moment left her cold. So, Kate went with warm neutrals all over the place, and in this room, she thought the decorator followed her brief to the letter: the floors sandblasted to a warm maple, large bookcase crammed with dictionaries and maps, and books on fighting. A desk big enough for all of the team to work around freely - oak and smelling of almonds.

At first, the room hadn't been used, but then little by little, bits of her companions' selves imprinted in here. Cassie's hair ties in the corners of the windowsill, Billy and Teddy's colour comics peeking between her books on martial arts and archery. Tommy's sneakers, Vision's chess board, and Eli.

On the face of it, Kate never pegged Eli for a bookish sort. Too loud, too angry, too mouthy, too _physical_. On the occasions when Billy and Teddy faded into each other, he stayed in this room. He'd read, and as now, be doing the odd assignment.

Kate ran her hands through her hair and found a hairpin. With great care, she curled her middle finger, pressed it against her thumb, and gently balanced the pin. Steady as she goes and - Kate flipped her middle finger, the hairpin bouncing off Eli's wrist.

"Hey!"

"Hey, yourself," she crossed over and dropped in the chair beside him, putting her feet on the desk. "We're all going out today, getting voluntarily caught in the tourist traps."

"Damn," Eli said, as he turned towards her, his arm resting on the back of the chair, his earring a circle of gold in the sunlight. "Why?"

"Cassie wants to," Kate stared at his light limed forearms, before meeting his eyes. "They remind her of her dad."

"Skating at Rockefeller Centre?" Eli frowned.

"Ferry to Ellis Island, the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State building," Kate counted the places off the tips of her fingers. "We'll even be buying those I love NYC shirts, and the headpieces if we can."

"I can see it now: welcome to uncoolville. Population: the six of you."

"And you'd make seven," Kate answered, keeping her voice steady, a direct counterpoint to the zap of nerves in her stomach. If Eli leaned just a bit more, they'd be sharing breath. Near enough for one of them to close the gap and change everything.

"I -"

"It's Cassie," Kate said into the space, voice low, and unconsciously intimate. "Besides, if you can't skate -"

"I can skate." Eli gave one of those rare sweet smiles he normally had hidden inside of him. She imagined he only got a few to issue each year, and Cassie seemed to be the recipient of most, probably because he saw her as a younger sibling, and Kate as ... something else.

"You'll come?"

"I - yeah," Eli nodded. "I'll play tourist, and be a member of population uncool. But no Statue of Liberty headgear, I'm _begging_ you."

"I promise." Kate said, mentally crossing her fingers. All of them were going to make today a day for Cassie to remember, and if green Styrofoam pointed crowns were the way to go, so be it.

However, Eli didn't have to know that.


End file.
